hotel_calif

I am looking at buying a 2004 E320, but my wife says it will make me look too old! I'm only 44 (is that old?) and she thinks I should get an SL500. The 2004 SL500's are too much for my budget, but a 2000 may be in the same price range as the E. I've never had a convertible, but it sounds like fun. Will I enjoy the SL500 more than the E320? How do the 2000 SL500's rate with respect to mechanical reliability?

Thanks!

mbtech208

I'd be jumping at the chance for the SL if I were you. It's outstanding in regards to reliability, considering 2000 was it's 11th year of production, so all the bugs were worked out by then. The E320 is still having it's teething problems, give it another year or two for that car. You'll enjoy the SL very much, I agree with your wife on this one.

ChrisB

I bought our SL 500 1 1/2 years ago when I had just turned 46 years old. A second vehicle to drive on the weekends.

We have had an absolute blast with the car. Absolutly no mechanical, electrical or any other problems in the 15,000 miles we have put on the car. The car now has 32,000 miles on it.

It is our first converible. Before I bought, I was unsure if a convertible would make that much difference to the driving experience.

From the day we picked the car up ... untill now, the experience has been simply excellent.

Every seemingly mundane errand run accross town on the weekend, with the convertible has been given a new sence of pleasure and adventure.

The power and stablility of the SL 500 provodes a constant source of enjoyment.

Go for the SL 500! Especially if your wife wants it. You will never regret it.

ChrisB

Check out this Mercedesshop Forum thread to see how passionately SL owners of all series feel about their cars.

The thread simply asks how old the SL owners are.

The responces often go on to tell how much they love their SLs.

This may help you get excited about the SL.

http://www.mercedesshop.com/shopforu...5&pagenumber=2

hotel_calif

Thank you for the recommendations. I looked at the "SL Owner Age" thread, and it was indeed filled with positive stories from SL owners, and some beautiful photos of their cars. I am somewhat concerned about buying a used car, but for this model, the older ones seem to have less trouble than the new.

My local dealer called to say they have 4 or 5 SLs in the 1999-2001 year range. I'll go for a test drive this weekend.

mbtech208

Let us know what you think.

ChrisB

I hope you have a nice sunny day on which to do your test driving!

Crank up your favorite CD and have fun!

Do write to say what your initial impression was.

mbtech208

He's in San Diego, I think the odds of that are pretty good. SD is the perfect city for a convertible.

hotel_calif

Thanks again, Dave & Chris. I'll post a report. Right now, San Diego is in "May Gray" mode. Marine layer hides the sun until early afternoon. But I'll time my test drive to get some sun.

Actually, I'm wondering just how much of the year I'll keep the top down. I live about 20 miles from the coast, and just that small distance makes for hot temps (90's F) in summer and cool temps (40's F) in the winter. That's not much to you folks that live up north, I know. But I use my heat in the winter and A/C in the summer.

How much of the year do you leave the top down?

ChrisB

In my vast 1 1/2 years experience since Dec / 02 when we bought ... I can say that the trend in Vancouver is that it simply gets too cool and rains too much for 4 months (Dec 1 to March 31) to even hope to drop the soft top.

We have the panorama roof (nearly all glass) ... so for those months it is better to have the hard top on.

Other than those months ... my wife will allow the top to be down top down whenever it is 15 degrees C (59 degrees F) or more. I'll drop the top on my own even down to 10 degrees C (50 degrees F).

The heaters in these cars are very fast to warm up and are very powerfull. You can blast the cold away with no problem. Seat warmers are standard in Cananda.

It is never to hot. We use the A/C sometimes ... but I don't recall ever wanting to put the top up for shade. I'll put a baseball cap on first. Since I don't have too much hair left on top, I can burn.

A few tips for convertible driving.

Some peole are sencitive to the wind turbulance inside a convertible. SL's have a method of dealing with that.

If the car has the mesh wind screen (standard equipment stored in the trunk) installed on the roll bar ... flip the top leaf up, with the windows up and the turbulance is never a problem even at speeds well in excess of highway speed limits.

I spray a bit of hair spray on the bit of hair I do have ... just to keep it in place.

I encourage you to play with the power and solid handeling. Try to find some open road to hit the gas at various speeds. And find a nice twisty road to take a few corners.

hotel_calif

Thanks for the tips. I think I can get used to a hat and jacket to keep the sun off. Some other questions if you don't mind.

1) How difficult is it to store the hard top? Can you rest it on it's side on some protective surface?

2) How difficult it is to install the hard top? Even if it's light, it looks like a two person job.

3) How difficult is it to see with the hard/soft top up? I've read posts that visibility is greatly reduced.

4) How secure is the car if left parked with the top down or the the soft top up? I assume you normally raise the soft-top when you park the car outside.

5) Are brushless car washes safe with the soft-top and the car?

6) Any other care tips for the soft top? I read some posts about using a rolled towel near where the plastic window creases.

7) How loud is the road noise with the soft top? With the hard top?

Many thanks for all your help.

mbtech208

Most MB dealers I know of offer free hard-top storage for SL owners. They'll even remove it and install it for free. There's a huge room where I work that's full of covered SL hardtops on dollies. It is a two-person job to remove and install it. Visibility with the hardtop is the same as a normal coupe. With the hardtop up, the blind spots are bigger, but nowhere near as bad as say, a 208 CLK cabrio. Road noise is not objectionable, it's quieter than an SLK.

ChrisB

1) You can buy a hard top cart/holder that stores the top on end and is moved around on castors. We store ours in a small condo storeage room. You could rest it on it's back end on some protective surface.

2) Removing the hard top is a two person job. Installing the hard top would best be done with a third person to guide the pins into the sockets. Use a quilt or heavy blanket on the trunk to avoid accedental touchdown scratching of the paint.

3) Seeing with the hard/soft top up is no different than other cars. Keep the plastic rear windows cleaned & polished with Meguires plastic care products. Visibility with the top down is much better than any hard top car.

4) I would say that no one can steal your car if left with the top down. The engine imobilizer / lazer key security systems are quite sophisticated. I'm nervious to leave the car unattended with the top down simply because of the potential for vandalism. With the the soft top up I don't worry? The top takes 14 seconds to put up or to take down. A one tough switch. No bother to normally raise the soft-top when you park the car outside.

5) Brushless car washes safe? I don't know. Brush car washes with the soft-top are definitly a no no.

6) Other care tips for the soft top? I recently got up the nerve to scrub clean the soft top and a week later to apply a petrolium based water repelant which has worked out really well. Water literally beads in large drops on the canvas right now. The plastic vision panels are very suceptable to scratching. Meguires plastic care products work well for maintenance.

7) How loud is the road noise with the soft top? Not bad at all. With the hard top? Non existant.

hotel_calif

Thanks again for your comments, Dave and ChrisB. I saw Chris' photos of of the soft-top back window he cleaned with Meguier's cleaner - quite an improvement. MB dealer is expecting me this weekend for an SL test drive. This should be fun! I've also been checking out eBay SL's for sale - some beautiful cars there.

hotel_calif

ChrisB, does your 1999 SL500 have the SL1 or SL2 option?

I like the SL2 option with its CD player and heated seats. The Xenon lights are nice also. I'm not sure if the SL1 alloy wheels, tires, sculpted body work, and fog lamps are worth the cost. Any recommendations on these options?

mbtech208

The SL2 package is desirable. The xenon headlights really light up the road much better than halogen headlights. The CD changer and heated seats are nice bonuses too. I'd tend to stay away from te SL1 (Sport) package though, it's negatives seem to outweigh the positives. The bodywork and low-profile tires looks sportier, but the road noise is increased with the wider tires, and tire life is substantially shorter. I've seen SLs with the Sport package that need new tires before 20,000 miles and they weren't even driven hard.

hotel_calif

Dave, I agree with your comments on the SL1 and SL2 packages. SL2 is highly desireable, but I think I will avoid the SL1. I am more interested in a comfortable cruiser and would prefer not to put up with the additional noise and shorter tire life that comes with the SL1 Sport package.

ChrisB

My car has quite standard.

I have the 6 CD changer and heated seats (probable standard for Canada) but neither the SL1 or SL2 option.

I had posted pictures one time. Search the forum for my user name.

Another thing I thought of is that the automatic transmissions have adaptive technology ... where the car learns to deliver what your driving style requires.

Mine had been driven by an old couple ... mostly by a woman. I seem to recall when we first bought it , the power, kick down and resulting acceleration used to be kind of unpredictable.

Now that I have been driving with a heavy foot for 15,000 miles ... either I have learned to manage the power better, gotten used to the tourque delivery ... or the car has learned to be smoother in the power delivery.

Have fun with the test drive.

ChrisB

Found my pictures.

By seartching the entire forum with the key words "R129 pictures". Mine were on page 3.

hotel_calif

The link you posted got chopped off, I think. It takes me to the main page. I did search on your username and found the photo thread at:

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...threadid=45321

That's a beautiful SL you have. Is the light interior difficult to keep clean? Yours looks spotless.

ChrisB

The car had been detailed that day so it looked particularily good when I took those pictures.

We use our car mostly on weekends. We go to nature parks regularily. We have a small lap dog that accompanies us where ever we go.

We do cover the bench behind the seats (Muffy's den) with a blanket and have a towel handy.

For the past 1 1/2 years we have simply used the carpet floor mats that came with the car. We have not done any thing special as far as trying to keep the car clean. Other that occasionally washing the car .

The light colour is no problem at all. The carpets are of a high dencity and resist accumulation of dirt. The Napa leather is maintenance free.

I'm just getting into planning to do a three stage exterior clean, polish and wax treatment. I'm a little nervious since I have never waxed a car myself.

hotel_calif

I drove a 2002 SL500 today, and it was a great deal of fun. Top-down on side streets then onto the freeway for a few miles. Wind blowing in my hair and sun on my face - wow! The car has lots of power though I am comparing it against my 4-cylinder 190E. The car has both the SL2 option (which I want) and the SL1 (which I don't). Soft-top up for the trip back to the dealership, and the road noise wasn't bad. Handling was excellent. Visibility out the back of the soft-top was somewhat limited but not a problem. I sat in a 2002 with the hard-top on and visibility was fine though I doubt I will use the hard-top much. This dealership doesn't store the hard-top, but they do sell the cart for home storage.

To provide a devil's advocate, I also drove a 2004 Lexus GS 430. It was plush, felt faster than the SL500 (less weight?) and very comfortable. It was noiser than I expected due to the high performance tires. The SL500 also had performance tires, but I didn't notice the extra noise due to the wind. The Lexus had an excellent GPS/Nav system and stereo, and brand new it cost $10K less than than the SL500.

It's a tough decision. What do you think of the 2002 SL500?

ChrisB

We test drove the Lexus ES 430 (new ... too expencive for us and ugly from the outside in our opinion) when we were shoping around.

We also test drove the BMW 540. We eventally opted for the convertible.

Both felt very fast.

We were eventually swayed by the resale value of MB. And the idea of owning a piece of automotive history.

hotel_calif

I agree. I do prefer the SL500 to the others. But the 2002 I looked at had options I didn't want and cost more than I wanted to pay. I actually went in to test drive a 1999 SL500, but when I arrived the car was not on the lot - out to repair some stone chips they said.

Thank you again for all your help!

ChrisB

I'd say the 1999 is a good choice.

That was the last year of significant motor changes for the SL in the R129 production run. That motor is still sused in the R230 SL500. There were styling changes from 1996 and later.

When you start looking into the various years here is a guide I found on the net when I was buying:

http://www.mbfans.net/models/sl-class/sl_history.html